The Man Named Smith
}} Chapter 1: Celebrations Gone Awry It was a beautiful evening in Port Royal as Percy Campbell walked into the Royal Anchor Bar & Grill on his 16th birthday. "Percy!" Shouted his best friend and bartender Jeremiah, "Happy birthday!" "Thanks!" Said Percy smiling, "Jeremiah check this out, father gave it to me." Percy drew a shiny rapier which gleamed like a diamond in the dreary light of the bar. Jeremiah whistled, "She sure is a beaut' Percy!" "Indeed she is," said Percy carefully sliding the sword back into it's scabbard. "So can I get ya anything?" Said Jeremiah, "Tis' on the house since it's your birthday." "I'll have some tea if you don't mind," said Percy. "Comin' right up!" Jeremiah said as he turned around and put a pot on the fire. Percy turned around and leaned up against the bar counter looking over the patrons. There was Caleb the old sailor in the corner with his fiddle and rum, Harrison the 'privateer' with the eyepatch, Mr. Crowly the barrelmaker having his morning tea, and there was... Percy then noticed a man in the left corner of the bar with shaven face showing some stubble wearing a wide brimmed fedora down below his eyes, stirring his drink with a toothpick then occasionally sticking it into his mouth. Percy turned to Jeremiah then whispered, "Hey Jeremiah, you know who that guy is in the corner there?" "I haven't the slightest, he just calmly ordered his drink and sat down. Didn't catch his name." Just then the bar door slammed open and Percy's family's landlord David Brindham swaggered through. Percy gulped as David's massive figure approached him. David stopped directly in front of Percy's face. "Well well well, if it isn't the son of the scumsucking debtor." "My father is not scumsucking!" Percy shouted. David chuckled then lifted Percy by his shirt and slammed him into the wall. "Who's the scumsucker now eh?" said David laughing, "Your pops has two days to pay me or I'll hang the lot of you! And if he doesn't believe I could do such a thing then let him see you after I'm through with ya!" The strange man in the corner looked up slightly at this. Percy saw this and for a moment was puzzled. David noticed that Percy had relaxed his muscles and gave him a hard punch to the gut. Pain shot through Percy as he coughed up blood. "Two days boy! Two days!" said David as he dropped Percy to the ground and walked out of the bar. Jeremiah rushed over to Percy and helped him up. "Jeremiah, what am I going to do? My family doesn't have enough money to pay him back, especially since father bought this," he said as he looked down at the scabbard. "If you ask me that would've been the perfect time to use that thing," said Jeremiah. "I couldn't kill him Jeremiah, then I'd be a criminal," said Percy as Jeremiah helped him out the bar doors and back to his house. The strange man in the corner slowly lowered his gaze and went back to chewing his toothpick as the teapot started to screech... Chapter 2: "Call me Smith" Two days later it was a cloudy and dark morning. Jeremiah was scrubbing the bar down as Percy burst through the bar doors. "Jeremiah! They've taken mother and father!" yelled Percy with tears in his eyes. The entire bar looked in shock except for the strange man who was there again this morning who simply looked up slightly. The bar door again swung open with David and two navy soldiers armed with muskets walked through. Percy backed up to the far wall as David and the soldiers approached. All the bar patrons got under tables or hid behind barrels except the man in the corner and Jeremiah who secretly pulled out the giant swivel gun he always kept hidden under the counter in case of robbery. "Well now looks like your the last of the Campbell family, too bad I'll have to wipe it out," said David with a wicked grin. Percy felt the hilt of his sword with his hand. One of the soldiers noticed this and shouted "He has a weapon!" as he lowered his musket. "Ha! He won't do it! He's a coward just like his father! Weak! Pathe..." said David as Percy plunged his rapier into David's throat. Percy pulled the blood stained sword out in horror as David let out a gurgle of blood and toppled to the ground. In a split second the navy soldier put his finger on the trigger but Jeremiah fired has swivel gun killing the soldier and sending his body flying backwards and slamming into a wall. Before Percy could do anything the other soldier jumped to the bar and stabbed Jeremiah with his bayonet. Percy stood completely in shock as the soldier then slowly turned towards him with his gun raised. Percy then closed his eyes and simply waited... BANG! Percy flinched, but then realizing he wasn't feeling any pain he slowly opened his eyes to see the soldier dead on the floor, expertly shot with a bullet in the temple. He then looked around and saw a puff of smoke where the strange man was. As the smoke cleared he saw the man stuff a strange looking multi-barreled pistol into his coat and stand up. The man walked over to Percy. "There isn't much time, the gunshots will be heard, we must go." said the man who then turned around and started calmly walking towards the door. "Who are you?..." Percy managed as he slid his sword into it's scabbard. "Call me Smith," said the man as he walked out the door. Percy looked over sadly to Jeremiah's dead body, then quickly ran out to follow Smith. Chapter 3:En Route to Tortuga Percy sat in the bowwels of a smuggler ship heading for Tortuga thinking about what had happened over the day. After he and Smith ran from the bar, they were caught by a group of 10 navy soldiers, at this Percy had drawn his rapier and all the soldiers laughed at him. But then Smith pulled out his multi-barreled pistol and a second one to match, then BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG and all the soldiers fell. Smith had simply put away his pistols as if it was nothing while Percy had just stood there mouth agape. After this they made it to the docks and met with an old friend of Smith's who gave them passage to Tortuga on one of his smuggler Xebecs. He then remembered the look on David's face when he stabbed him. He had already killed one person and was partly responsible for 12 other's deaths. He then looked over at Smith who was cleaning and reloading both his guns. Percy had never seen pistols that looked like that, he walked over to Smith to get a closer look. As he got closer he noticed the infamous etching on the handle of the gun "Falsman & Goddard." "Arn't those guns illegal?!" Percy said. "I reckon so." said Smith without even looking up. "Got em' off a man in a duel, he didn't tell me he had two, but he never had time to fire either of them anyway." "How many men have you killed?!" Percy exclaimed. "That's not something you should be asking people boy." Smith said. "Only two people know the answer to that question, myself and James Brandenburg." "Who's James Brandenburg?" said Percy. "He's an eh... Old aqqaintance of mine." "Are you a pirate?" asked Percy. "Alright kid that's enough about me," Smith said. "My time around here is up soon anyway. I'm here to help you out not tell you the story of my life." "But why are you helping me?" said Percy. "Well I reckon you have alot of years ahead of you, me on the other hand... Well no matter what, life catches up to you. And besides, I figure it just might help my soul to assist you." "Well what are we going to do when we get to Tortuga?" asked Percy. "Well I have a friend there who might be able to hook you up with an honest job." Smith replied. "A job? I don't want to work all my life, I want to sail." "Well I suppose I have a friend who can hook you up with that too. Now be patient till we get there and get some rest." said Smith putting away his pistols... More coming soon! Category:Fan Stories